Scandal set to end Cain campaign

WASHINGTON: Embattled presidential candidate Herman Cain is expected to announce this weekend whether he will continue his campaign in the wake of an accusation that he conducted a 13-year extramarital affair.

Mr Cain said he will be making an announcement to ''clarify what the next steps are''.

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Cain suspends campaign in face of scandal

Republican candidate Herman Cain is suspending his bid for the Republican presidential nomination in the face of continued allegations of sexual misconduct.

Mr Cain's campaign also quietly invited some of his supporters and donors to Atlanta this weekend for a meeting in which he will give them advance word of whether he intends to continue his campaign, individuals close to the campaign said.

One adviser, who has been summoned to the private session, said he believes that Mr Cain is likely to announce he is ending his candidacy. Another said attendees have been told he has made no decision but wanted to meet with some of the supporters to express his gratitude.

In an apparent signal that it had not given up the fight, the campaign announced on Friday the creation of Women for Cain, a group headed by Mr Cain's wife, Gloria, and designed to ''inspire a national women's alliance in support of Herman Cain for 2012'', according to the campaign's website.

But the group quickly found itself being ridiculed after the media noted that the photo of four women giving the thumbs-up signal was not an image of Mr Cain's supporters, but a stock photo. It subsequently removed the photo from the site.

Mr Cain, the former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza, enjoyed a brief reign at the top of the polls, in part because rank-and-file Republican voters viewed him as a refreshing outsider. However, his campaign stumbled in early November when Mr Cain was accused of sexually harassing several women during his stint as head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s.

Steve Grubbs, who is overseeing Mr Cain's Iowa operation, acknowledged that he is now trailing Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney.